How do I handle Influence in DH2

Okay, this is good. So, for example, the more they start to accumulate, the more time they loose.

This is good, this is why I came here. Anything else?

You can do a variant on the stuff discussed above that I'd sum up like this:

If something is needed urgently, you can tade Influence for Visibility (or however they called that in 2e, I just looked over it once, we switched to another system before it released). Yes, you can go and wave your Rosetta into literally everyone's face and this will increase the chance that you get your shiny plasma gun or those 2000 Liters of Promethium you need (by X%) - but it'll also guarantee that SOMEONE doesn't keep his mouth shut and the whole hive hears that the ][ is in town while you wait for delivery.

>You think Ravenor's minions kicked down doors and yelled "WE ARE THE INQUISITION, GET ON THE FUCKING FLOOR" 24/7?

"ORDO XENOS RAVENOR/ EVERYBODY DO THE BIOVORE"

Oh yeah and obviously, if you feel they're abusing it there's several other things you can do:

1. Introduce a time limit
"New orders from the Inquisitors have come in - we leave in 2 hours." - "But we're waiting for our Power Armour! It's due in a couple days." - "...do you really want me to tell that to the Inquisitor?"

2. "Upstairs" gets a complaint
"Okay guys, you've been bleeding this Hive dry, and apparently someone within the Noble houses has lodged a complaint with the Inquisitor. He's asking if you really tried to force the Governor-General to hand over the heritage power armour his Grandfather pacified the planet in, and conquered it for the Imperium." - "...it was the only one on the planet." - "Okay here's what's gonna happen. You're going over there and you're gonna formally and personally apologize to the guy. I'm pretty sure he's helping the Inquisitor run a couple things. He might even be of the Inquisitor's Inner Circle, but if he is, he's so deep that even I can't tell for sure. So, make it convincing or you're gonna run reactor duty for the flight."

...there's probbably more possibilities but that's what I got right now, add if you got.

Ok, good.

So, how do you use your INFLUENCE when you hide your allegiance? How do you use INFLUENCE to get things on a planet you've never been to, where nobody knows you, and you claim to be just a nobody? With no money mechanically involved?

Thanx user, you're opening my mind the way I hoped Veeky Forums will. How about what I asked about here ?

Couple things you could do really, I can come up with a few scenarios:

1. You reveal your identity, but just to 1 guy. He will bust his balls, but he can't use your name to bust everyone else's - because you told him not to.

2. You go into the guy's bedroom at 4 in the morning with fucking masks, push the Rosetta in his face, and tell him the shit's to be there by tomorrow, to tell no one, etc. You vanish like ghosts. You come back the next day. He can't even describe your faces or your stay if he wants to.

I could go on for a while. In all these scenarios the guy himself knows you are the Inquisition. Your Influence stat can represent a number of things - you knowledge about whom to ask for example. Your leash on the guy (typical spy stuff really, compromising pictures, where his kids play, whatever you want) and so on. The question is not if you show you're Inquisition, the question is, how much and to how many people do you do this? If you tell 1 guy to get you the thing, chances are way bigger that your secret's kept than when you tell 25 guys.

Okay.

How do they use my influence to get an autopistol and two clips on a backwater colony of few thousand souls, that they have never been to, without telling anyone they work for the Inquisition.

I know it is easy to do it (as in, get the gun and the ammo), I ask how do you use the Influence system in such a scenario. Again, i am a nobody in the middle of nowhere, I know nobody, I cannot call upon the Inquisition. In a sense, I have no influence (with a small i)

(continued from)
Or you know they could just shit money on his head because their Influence in that regard is money.

The trick here is to take the abstract ressource and the abstract mechanic, and flesh it out so that the info everyone's adding to the scene (target, method, type of encouragement, timeframe) could turn into a scene worth playing.

Oh yeah and of course there's a line at which this level of detail becomes bothersome instead of colorful and fun. If your characters gotta invest 1/2 hour of character play time and deep spycraft every time they want 20 shots of ammo or a can of recaf, you're overdoing it.
But the exact line is pretty much a thing that's different for each group and I can't go and tell you anything about that.

You have been most helpful man. May you have a good life.

For Dark Heresy I remade the money system. Infamy lacks a lot of the strategic depth that money does. It's just a static value saying how good your gear and support is, where with money it's something that can be saved up or rationed.

There needs to be a lot more planning if money is the player's main resource. At the start of an investigation they get a budget, and it's up to them how to use it.

If they spend all their money right away on flash guns, they won't have as much cushion later on for things unexpected. Bribing officials, buying specific gear, hiring thugs, transportation, lodging, etc.

Or when its the player's payday he can spend all his money on one trick gun, or buy a whole set of gear that rounds out his abilities, or he can stash it for a rainy day.

With infamy there's no such thing.

As I said, the Influence stat as an abstract ressource cn be fleshed out a million different ways. For your specific example, here's a few solutions:

1. Administratum Acolyte goes to the airfield security, two unwashed guys with badly fitting uniforms: "Officers, I assume even you have the standard manual of military codes SOMEWHERE in this. . .office." The guys look at each other and after a bit of searching, a manual is pulled from under one of the office table legs. The Administratum acolyte sighs: "Very well. Now listen carefully: Sierra. Tango. Bravo. One. Papa. Nine.Uniform.". The color slowly vanishes from the face of the officers as they take a closer look: "...but who..." - "I think the manual precisely states your appropriate reaction to this scenario, officers. Read, then speak.". Finally the officer's mouth stops moving and he looks up, thin-lipped: "What do you need, sir?"

This is really just one of 100 possible scenarios. Maybe they just throw thrones at the problem, but this time you don't have to write up the 9,95.

I think money is good when you go action/investigation. When you go spying/intrigue, Influence is really cool. Kinda hard to use properly tho, especially if you're new to the system.

Now I'm imagining each of them with their own personal dance moves. Emperor damn you.
Kara and Patience have the best ones, naturally

>You think Ravenor's minions kicked down doors and yelled "WE ARE THE INQUISITION, GET ON THE FUCKING FLOOR" 24/7?
No, but there are inquisitors who do exactly that, and that play style is supported in the game.
What I have come to realize is that the only people who have a problem with Influence are the people who insist on taking it literally, rather than a narrative mechanic representing how you have forged a network of contacts, friends, debts and favors.
I generally keep each player to 5 requisitions at one time, and 4 dofs or more mean you have insulted your contact, and they cut you off, maybe with influence burn on top of it.

when this particular scenario happens I just apply penatlies on the test. for what they are looking for, and depending on how rare it is, it could be part of someone's collection, so the player needs to negotiate for it.

Inlfuence is more about groups you have connections to than individual people.
Being in with someone in the Admech gives you connections in the Admech, having an Arbites connection can get you a writ of confidence from another marshal, for example, or even knowing a chartist captain or 2.
GM needs to be sensible, realizing what influence pertains to and how it applies. It's not a literal thing, it represents people you can send a message to and work within system, or outside it.

And here's two factors I use to determine when to turn a Influence roll into a story element by fleshing it out, when to just have them roll it, or when to not even roll it and just go "you're successful".

1. Does it lead to a significant change when it succeeds?

Will the characters only have a chance to solve the plot when they acquire Item X? Or is it a significant boost of their own power level (like the fighter character getting his first bolt gun or upgrading to his first carapace from hhis shitty flak jacket)? Then the scene is probably worth a little attention.

2. This is a super important thing and it counts for literally every roll the characters make: WILL FAILURE HAVE ANY INTERESTING CONSEQUENCES AT ALL? The simplest example is to roll influence to get a can of recaf. Unless the characters are dieing of thirst, it's completely uninteresting if they manage to do the roll. So I don't let them roll, they get the recaf. It's the same with a TON of other rolls - if you got a character who has all the parts to build a chainsword, and an attempt takes a week and he's got 1 year of downtime at his disposal and his skill is at a professional level - why let him roll at all?

This logic can be taken even further: If you, as a GM, have no idea how the story is supposed to continue if the characters fail a roll - don't let them fail it. Honestly - don't even let them roll it. Not thinkigng about this is a design problem easiest noticed in some detective adventures: If the characters don't manage to do a roll and find clue X, the plot doesn't progress. It's terrible design. Either you give them an alternate way, or the plot has to progress even if they fail and give them a chance to get back in...or you don't have them roll to find the fucking clue.

Looking back I went a tiny bitt off topic here but you get my drift.

continued from
Significant change means things can easily be worth fleshing out sometimes, and be just rolled or even granted other times.

Let's take your example here:
>get an autopistol and two clips on a backwater colony of few thousand souls

Situation 1: The players arrive on the planet in full gear, have a ship in orbit, and so on.
Consequence: That one Autopistol doesn't make the slightest difference - just roll it or just grant it.

Situation 2: The players stumble into the backwater colony in rags and half starved after escaping from a mysterious complex.They have no weapons apart from a club.
Consequence: The autopistol and two clips will be their new most valuable possession, totally worth fleshing out.